This chapter investigates the role of English for the Japanese with a consideration of its historical and sociolinguistic background, followed by an analysis of English language teaching policies and pedagogies in Japan in terms of their struggles to cope with today’s urgent needs for international communication. English used to be perceived as a tool for absorbing advanced Western technologies and cultures, and was taught solely for passive acquisition of knowledge. However, recently, the Japanese have found it imperative to express themselves to the outer world in English in various domains, including the economy, politics, technology and academic studies; hence, English is being taught for communicative purposes. A major obstacle to acquiring English for communication is the predominance of native-speakerism, a belief that native speaking English is the only model, neglecting the potential of linguistic creativity or Japanization of English. A short discussion of the situation in Korea, the closest neighbor, will be added.